This invention relates to apparatus for winding coils of wire on a bobbin and more particular to such an apparatus which coils wire on a bobbin in a smooth, tight, helix.
Apparatus for winding winds of wire on a coil in the form of a bobbin are well known in the art. It is also well known that it is desirable that such devices lay the wire on a bobbin in a transverse direction as well as rotationally, so that the wire is coiled helically rather than spirally. An example of a device which accomplishes the desired function is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,333. Devices of the type illustrated by the cited patent suffer, however, from the defect that they are substantially inefficient in providing the required transversely directed motive force to the transversely movable carriage portion of the winding apparatus. This results in both an undesirable waste of energy and, to some degree, defectively wound coils in that there is a substantial likelihood that consecutive turns of the wire of a layer of the coil will overlie one another rather than being adjacent to one another in the same plane.